


A Whispering Shadow

by PhantasmaDormi



Series: Mianitian Isles [3]
Category: Mianite - Fandom, Miantian Isles, The Mianitian Isles, the realm of mianite
Genre: AU- Non-Canon Compliant, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Horror, Mianite Spookanite Contest, Overuse of Darkness imagery, Spookanite, Spookanite 2020, Suspense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:36:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27292813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhantasmaDormi/pseuds/PhantasmaDormi
Summary: Two heroes journey into Niflheim to retrieve a lost friend.
Series: Mianitian Isles [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1781929
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	A Whispering Shadow

Their footsteps echoed in the cavernous space. The air was damp and heavy, a faint fog rolling across the floor, no higher than their ankles.

It had been some time since they had come here. When the heroes first stepped foot there it had been teeming with false life- spirits long left at unrest, the ever present flow of water through the space, the muted sounds of voices.

Now, it was dead.

Nothing moved, except the fog. It acted like its own entity, crawling forth. The waterfalls were present but eerily still, like ice. There was no spray of mist nor shift of silt where they touched the ground.

Jordan and Karl shared a look. There was a presence of danger lingering over their shoulders. Each step they took deeper into Niflheim the feeling grew.

There was a missing body between them. It amplified their unease. One less pair of eyes watching their back, one less sword ready to defend.

But that was why they were here, wasn’t it? 

Karl pressed a hand to the hilt of his sword. Jordan, in turn, drummed his fingers against the hard wood of his bow. His eyes flicked to the right to chase a fleeting shadow.

Before them the split into the Mirror Dimension yawned open. Tendrils of starry black twirled about in the darkness, somehow both darker and lighter than its surroundings. The portal seeped into the ground around it, spreading slowly but surely, trying to suck down anything in its path.

The duo halted just on the edge of it, taking a chance to peer into its depths. It was just as endless and consuming as the Void, yet it felt as though it was filled to the brim with something.

A slow, sharp sound of metal scraping across the stone floor snapped them to attention. Jordan’s head whipped around to find the source while Karl brandished his sword with a mirroring sound of steel against steel. 

All around them was darkness and fog. It twisted and pulled, shrouding their exit in a murky blackness. There was no turning back.

“‘Ay mate,” Karl piped up, giving a nervous lick of his lips, “I don’t think we’re alone anymore.”

A breathy laugh resounded in the hushed space. “It’s amusing to think you were ever alone.”

Jordan shrugged his bow off his shoulder, priming an arrow. “Gandus. We're here as you so kindly requested. Where’s Tom?”

A flash of red caught his eye and he turned its way. Darkness met his gaze.

“Where’s my prize?”

He frowned, thumb brushing against the feathered end of his arrow. “We have it. But you know how these things go, I don’t trust you to not take it and just leave.”

A scoff. The light coming from the portal caught on steel, a flash of a sword in the gloom. Karl’s grip tightened on his own and he took a step closer to Jordan.

“And I trust you to give me what I want if I merely hand Tom over?” Gandus lazily responded from the shadows. “Do you think you have any right to demand his return first?”

Taking a deep breath, Jordan flicked his eyes about the darkness. After a moment's hesitation he reached into his pocket and retrieved a small pouch. He held it before him.

The tip of a sword flew out from within the shroud of darkness, lifting the pouch away. It was carried about the portal until it was opposite the heroes. There, Gandus emerged.

In the gloom her silhouette was hard to make out. Her hood seemed endless and her face a sudden shock of skin. She dropped the pouch into her hands, slicing the top open. Taking a pinch of the contents, she studied the fine powder between her fingertips.

“Finely ground Ender Eyes. Such quality craftsmanship. I could almost say Ianite herself made it.” She eyed Jordan smugly. He grit his teeth. “Not so easy to come by.”

“Where is Tom.” Jordan stood his ground, bow carefully aimed at the ground.

“You’re starting to sound like a broken record, Captain.” Gandus lowered her hand. With a flourish of her arm, the shadows parted next to her to reveal him, beaten and bruised, ready to spit venom. When he went to speak he coughed harshly.

“He wasn’t much the willing participant. So I had to put him in his place.” She gave a light shrug, as though talking about the weather. “Besides, I needed a test subject.”

“Test subject?” Jordan stiffened. “The deal was that we would deliver what you wanted in return for Tom.”

“The deal?” A laugh burst out of her, curling in their ears. “Oh Captain, the ‘deal’ was to bring this to me or you would never see Tom again. You have seen him, have you not?” 

Before either hero could move, Gandus grinned sharp and deadly. She dashed the contents of the pouch into the portal to the Mirror Dimension. It went dark. All the light was sucked out of the room and all the air with it.

A flash of red eyes appeared before them before the portal roared back to life. It lashed out violently, crawling its way forth from the floor and digging into the world around it. Darkness and stone alike was swallowed by its endless mass as the heroes scrambled away from thrashing tendrils.

Yet before it stood Gandus, a crushing grip kept on Tom’s bicep. Her eyes were wild and gleeful and she yelled across to them. “Get ready to see a new world, Heroes!”

“Tom!” Karl and Jordan yelled in unison as he was forced forward, left scrambling before he was caught by a tendril of dark mass and pulled into the Mirror Dimension. It flared a deep crimson as he sank in with a screech.

Fear latched onto Jordan as he yanked Karl back. Their racing steps were followed by Gandus’ raucous laughter and the growing growl of something deep within the portal.


End file.
